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Clinton Calls Fashion Ads' 'Heroin Chic' Deplorable

Asserting that ''you do not need to glamorize addiction to sell clothes,'' President Clinton today accused the fashion industry of making heroin seem ''glamorous, sexy and cool'' through advertising that enticed young people to try heroin.

''American fashion has been an enormous source of creativity and beauty and art and, frankly, economic prosperity for the United States,'' Mr. Clinton said, ''and we should all value and respect that.''

''But the glorification of heroin is not creative, it's destructive,'' he added. ''It's not beautiful; it's ugly. And this is not about art; it's about life and death. And glorifying death is not good for any society.''

The President spoke at the White House to 35 mayors who met in Washington to draft a plan to control trafficking and use of illegal drugs. While applauding Mr. Clinton's criticism, the mayors sounded more concerned about finding resources for drug prevention and treatment programs in their hometowns.

White House officials said that the President decided to speak out against ''heroin chic'' in fashion photography after reading an article about it on Tuesday in The New York Times. The article said that after the fatal overdose on Feb. 4 of Davide Sorrenti, a young photographer who posed his models looking drugged and haggard, some magazine editors admitted that glamorizing the strung-out look indeed reflected a use of heroin among young people in fashion and had a damaging seductive power.

''We now see in college campuses and neighborhoods heroin becoming increasingly the drug of choice,'' he said.

While there have been reports of resurgent heroin use at some colleges, the overwhelming choice of students is still alcohol, followed by marijuana. In comparison, heroin use is relatively modest. Still, Mr. Clinton's criticism seemed to be taken seriously in fashion circles.

''The President's right,'' said Patrick McCarthy, editorial director of W Magazine. ''There is a problem, and responsible editors and fashion designers are doing something about it.''

''He has stated the obvious,'' Mr. McCarthy said, ''but when the President of the United States states it, he states it even louder. It will have an effect. This is going to be everywhere tonight and tomorrow, and you'd have to be crazy not to listen.''

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Fern Mallis, the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said, ''The fashion industry should not be the easy target to blame for society's woes.''

But Ms. Mallis added, ''We are going to take another very serious look at this issue.''

''Drugs are not fashionable and we want to make sure that nobody in the fashion industry thinks that it's the case,'' she said.

The President complained in 1995 about photographs of half-dressed adolescents used to promote Calvin Klein fashions, and Mr. Clinton's senior adviser at the White House, Rahm Emanuel, said today that such advertisements demeaned the fashion industry's credibility.

''This is not about art,'' Mr. Emanuel said. ''It's about attitudes and acceptability.''

At the meeting with the mayors, the President also announced new steps to make it harder to launder drug money. He said that currency exchanges and check-cashing and other money services would have to register with the Treasury Department. Such outlets, which are common in poor urban neighborhoods, have become a conduit for drug profits remitted back to Latin America and other regions. Mr. Clinton said further that more businesses would be required to report suspicious business activity, which many American banks already do.

On Monday, the Administration announced that money transmitters and check-cashing services would be required to report wire transfers of more than $750 leaving the United States. The previous cutoff was $10,000.

The 35 mayors visiting the White House represented a study group on drug control organized by the United States Conference of Mayors. In their recommendations presented to Mr. Clinton, they made the first priority persuading young people not to use drugs, which mirrors the Administration's position. They also said that drug abuse would not be reduced without adequate resources to treat drug addicts. And they linked increased prevention and treatment to strong enforcement measures.

''This is a very complex issue,'' Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago told reporters after meeting with the President. ''It cannot be answered by simple solutions.''

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A version of this article appears in print on May 22, 1997, on Page A00022 of the National edition with the headline: Clinton Calls Fashion Ads' 'Heroin Chic' Deplorable. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe